Trevians bring ‘absolute best’ to record-setting state swim finals, finish as runnerup

New Trier and St. Charles North gave defending champ Rosary all it could handle in the IHSA swimming and diving championships Friday-Saturday, Nov. 15-16, inside Westmont’s FMC Natatorium.

Their record-breaking performances, which included five program records for the Trevians, still were not enough to dethrone the Beads, who totaled 290 points to New Trier’s 272 and St. Charles North’s 251.

New Trier coach Mac Guy praised his team’s state effort and everything that went into it.

“Our preparation was really, really excellent. I don’t know if I would go back and do a single thing differently,” he said. “The plan for the season was great, we had a great squad that was executing those plans really well and to have it not be enough is hard, but it’s something they’re never going to forget.

“To come up short and still (to see them) just crying with pride and appreciation for all that we put into it was just a testament to the character of the group.”

Behind 10 top-five finishes, including two race victories (200-yard medley relay, 100 backstroke), New Trier took home the second-place trophy for the second straight year and 15th time in program history. The Trevians also have 16 state championships, including back-to-back wins in 2021-’22.

Rosary racked up 13 top-five finishes with five wins to outlast their challengers and earn the program’s second consecutive state championship and ninth overall. The Beads senior star Becky Rentz won the 200 and 100 frees, while also helping her team break the state record in the 200 free relay.

As evidence to the speed at the meet, each of St. Charles North’s, Rosary’s and New Trier’s 400 free relay squads bested the previous state record. The North Stars time of 3 minutes 19.2 seconds is the new record.

“That is amazingly fast, and we were just a second behind that,” Guy said. “We broke our own school record. One thing that has made us really good as a team this year is our belief in ourselves and that we could win this meet. We were so fast. It’s pretty cool and hard to be mad at.”

The Trevians 400 relay team (seniors Zara Bolton, Olivia Safarikova, Marin Shimkus, Tierney Lenahan) broke one of five program records on the weekend. New Trier’s 200 free relay (Shimkus, Bolton, senior Maeve O’Donnell, Safarikova) also set a new team mark with a swim of 1:32.52, which would have been a state record if not for Rosary’s 1:31.69.

Lenahan broke two other New Trier records, swimming the 100 free in 48.79 seconds (second place) and 100 back in 53.2 seconds (first place). And Bolton also set a program record with her second-place 100 fly swim (54.25).

Lenahan, freshman Riley McNeal, Bolton and O’Donnell collaborated on a state-championship 200 medley relay swim (1:40.65), giving New Trier the title in the meet-opening event for the sixth consecutive season.

“I think we just have a lot of depth in each stroke and it’s definitely sprint depth,” said Lenahan, who is committed to swim for Duke University. “And it is really a fun and exciting thing to kick off the meet with a win and get points on the front side of the meet.”

Lenahan won a Washington state championship in the 100 free as a high school freshman. She then moved to the New Trier area and tied for a 100 backstroke championship as a sophomore and helped the Trevians to a medley relay win.

As a junior, she did not compete with New Trier, but returned this year to lead the Trevians in points at the state meet and earn a place in the Trevians record books three times over.

Bolton is another senior leaving her mark with the New Trier program, and Guy called her a “rock for us for the past three years.”

Other placers on Saturday for New Trier were: Safarikova in the 200 free (4th, 1:49.82) and the 100 free (9th, 50.77); senior Elyse Newlands in the 200 individual medley (10th, 2:04.76) and 100 breaststroke (10th, 1:04.08); Shimkus in the 100 back (2nd, 54.96) and 50 free (5th, 23.25); O’Donnell in the 50 free (8th, 23.44) and the 100 fly (8th, 57.17); sophomore Sylvia Deliduka in the 500 free (11th, 4:59.53); and McNeal in the 100 breaststroke (4th, 1:03.07).

Guy said while the trophy didn’t have the place on it that his team wanted, the effort was more than enough to be proud of.

“We’ve had teams that we’ve won state championships with that showed less grit than this group that competed on Saturday,” he said. “We had really exceptional performances and a lot of lifetime bests. … We have some strong, really confident young women and had the state championship in our sights the whole way through.

“They just showed exceptional maturity and poise that they never give in. We put our absolute best out there this weekend.”

Loyola Academy collected its best finish in several years by placing seventh as a team.

The Ramblers placed all their relays. Maria Cheng, Georgia Andrew, Lia Roggi and Sophia Friedstedt took sixth in the 200 medley relay; Friedstedt, Reilly O’Hara, Andrew and Kinsley Fitzgerald 12th in the 200 free relay; and Roggi, Friedstedt, Andrew and O’Hara 10th in the 400 free relay.

Cheng had the best individual showing with a fourth-place effort in the 100 back. O’Hara placed 12th in the 200 free, while Roggi took 12th in the 50 free and 13th in the 500 free. Friedstedt added a 13th-place effort in the 50 free.

Highland Park sophomore Brooke Eliacin also qualified for the finals, tying for 13th in the 50 free.

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